West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1887-09-08
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.

The finest collection OF butterflies in
the world is said TO be that at the Johns
Hopkins University. The collector OF
1t is Herman Strecker, day laborcr, who
works at stone-cutting, and does his
hunting after specimens, as he must, at
night, after his days work is over
What is termed flexible glass is n use.
full product just introduced. Paper of
proper thickness is rendered transparent
10y soaking i'm copal varnish, aud when
dry is polished, rubbed with pumicc
stone, and layer OF soluble glass is az
piled and rubbed with salt. The surface
Is rs perfect as glass.
The largest dam i'm the world is TO be
built across the upper end OF the Saa
Matco canyon, about four miles west of
the village Of San Mateo The dam will
consist OF a solid wall Of concrete, from
hillside 20 hillside. IL will be 700 feet
long 40 feet high, 10 feet thick at the
base, and 20 feet thick at the top. The
reservoir which will be- formed by this
dam will have IA capacity of 30, 600, 600
gallons, and some time in the future will
DO connected with the San Francisco
watershed by tunnel five miles long.
Electric lanterns will, il is thought.
take the place, in course of time, Of the
ordinary mining safety lamps. A port a.
bic electric lamp can now be made, pos.
scssing the following features: Weight.
about three pounds; illuminating power,
hve candles; size and shape, similar to
present lamps; duration Of light ten
hours; cost OF repairs, charges of bat
terry, and materials, cents for ten hours
these facts showing that there is nothing
To prevent its adoption as substitute for
the present lamps, and even " candles
In many mines where they are still in
use.
The problem of protection against
yellow fever by incubation seems in II
lair way TO solution by the Brazilian
doctor, FTeire, who has been seven years
at work on the subject. According to a
recent account, the number of persons
already inoculatcd is 1924 There have
died from yellow fever in Rio de Janciro,
between January, 1885, and September.
1886, 1875 persons, of whom eight had
been inoculated lin 1884, the method
being then imperfect.) This gives a
mortality of about per 1 900 for the in
oculated, and one per cent for the I'M
inoculatcd
Rustless iron is being manufactured i'm
New York by a new process which, it is
claimed, converts the surface Of the metal
into magnetic oxide of iron. This is
done by sublccting it SUCCESSFULLY to the
action OF highly heated air and carbonc
oxide gas from coal fires. The hot air
converts the metallic surface into red
oxide of iron, which is then reduced to
black or magnetic oxide by the gas.
This renders it rust-proof when exposed
to the air or TO fresh or salt water. The
process can be applied with most satisfac.
tory results to water pipes and architec-
tural work.
n forgotten chemical product, brought
out by Dode more than twenty wears AGO.
is now preserved in Paris museum. 1t
IS transparent reflector, in which the
image of an object may be viewed as i'm a
mirror, or through which the object
itself may be seen as through common
glass. 1t is simply piece of glass Gov
cred with thin layer of platinum. 1t
was prepared by combining n mixture of
platlnic chloride and essence of lavender
and borate and oxide of lead, spreading
the whole on the glass with fine brush,
and then baking in muffle at low rcd
heat This old discovery ought to serve
some useful purpose
Prof. A. G.. Bourne writes to Nature
regarding the sense of taste or smell in
lceches. While in India he picked up
with his fingers stone from the soft,
muddy bottom of a shallow, torpid
stream. Returning to the same spot
few minutes later, he noticed number
of leeches swimming near the spot. ON
the following day, susl Getting that they
had ''smelt' or tasted" his hand in the
water, he first stirred the surface Of the
mud with a stick, but no lceches ap-
peared; after the water was clear again
he washed his hands in the water with.
out disturbing the mud, and very soon n
number of leeches came mp and swan
about. The soft mud i'm which they live
IS about foot deep, and although the
disturbance of the surface mud with
stick was not sufficient TO bring them
out, the 'smell" or caste of his hands
seems to have spread down and extended
over an area Of more than q yard. Lnst
year in the hill country he had an ODD ~
tunity of Observing the very keen scent
of the land leeches. which will go 10 n
man or horse from the banks of either
side or even a wide road.